Makeover

No, not me. Although, I'm pretty sure I desperately need one. I was referring to my blog. I am fully aware that my ticker is old, my background is still Christmas, and it's currently snowing on the Souders' Saga.

I just can't find a background/header I like, and am too cheap to have someone else design one for me. So, until I do, it's still Christmas over here;)

Sitting Down

Ahhhh! I'm finally getting a sec to breathe. I should really be on the computer working on an assignment, but I think we may have a virus. Therefore' I'm getting an itty bitty break. I will be paying for this break later...

So anyway, I have become addicted to my camera. No really, it's a problem. Unfortunately, my favorite subject never stops moving, so pictures are getting tricky. Luckily, I will have a few opportunities in the next couple weeks to shoot 2 squishy newborns!!! This came at the perfect time because one of my new years resolutions was to learn to shoot in manual(Which I have been working very very hard on). I'm also currently taking a photoshop class, hence the aforementioned assignment that I am now behind on.

On top of that, we are currently converting our dinning room to a playroom/ second living area. Presley has so many toys and I cant stand them cluttering my living room. This makes me a tiny bit sad because while I never used the dinning room, it was always clean. Now it will probably be the messiest room in the house. Why am I telling you all this? Because my blogging will probably be slacking just a bit.

Now on to my very favorite subject, Miss Priss! She has discovered the power of words. Her current favorite is "up" and she uses it ALL THE TIME! One would be surprised how much the word up can get you in a day. For Presley, it gets her in my arms, out of her crib, into baskets and other random objects, on chairs, in her high chair, tossed in the air and the list goes on...

So, that's what we have been "up" to. Now, I'm off to hobby lobby to pick up party supplies for a baby shower that I'm throwing for my sister in law. Have I mentioned how excited I am to meet my new nephew?!?

Snow Day 2011

We had snow in Texas again this year!! I love the snow so much, but probably because we almost never have it. Last year, Presley was just an itty bitty thing, so it wasn't terribly exciting for her. This year, however, she thought it was pretty cool.

This is a comparison from last year and this year

This is my favorite shot of Presley from the day. I love it partly because she reminds me of Humpty Dumpty, but mostly I love it because of  the expression on her face when she first saw the snow.

And of course, I took 20,000 more pics of her. She was having snow much fun (ok..I'll stop doing that now).

I know most everyone is tired of the cold, but I totally love it. Bring on the snow, baby!

12 Months!

Yikes! This is super late! I was waiting for her 1 year check up, which was last Thursday...or maybe I just wanted to be in denial that my baby is a whole year old?!?

Here is what my Sweet P has been up to:

•  weighs 18.5 lbs. (20th percentile), and is 29 inches long (50th percentile)
• on whole milk
• Calls me" ahhhh-yeee" (ashlie).So not cool.
• Yells at the cats and calls Rambo "bah-bo"
• Knows where her nose, eyes, and mouth are and will point to them when asked...if she's in the mood.
• Tells on herself. Says "no-no" before doing something she shouldn't.
• Loves to put on her shoes and socks. She goes around the house trying to put on mine and Brandon's too. Then gets really ticked when they don't stay on.
• She says so many words now, but her newest are: bow (then touches hair), shoe, Ashlie, 'mon ("come on" and waves hand), baby, oh no, oh man, oh boy, peek a boo, ahhh- you( where are you), open.
• Signs "all done" super cute!
• Sits in the tub like a big girl.
• Feeds herself with a spoon and always has to blow on it before putting it in her mouth. This self feeding business generally leads to a bath after every meal. My kitchen floor will never be the same.
• Loves to eat! And will eat almost anything.
• Almost rid of the bottle. She doesn't mind but I like hanging on to it because she is still for 2 seconds.
• Enjoys wearing my jewelry, carrying very heavy objects, sneezing, climbing on anything and everything, not playing with actual toys, brushing her hair and mommy's and walking backwards.
• Gives super tight around the neck hugs. My favorite is when she gets a running start and throws her tiny arms around my neck..
• Has enough hair for pig tails.
• Sleeps from 8 to 9:30ish. Loves it!

My goodness gracious! She is such a big girl, and (as usual) I'm totally in love love love with this age. She is becoming Miss Independent, communicating so much more, and discovering/learning new things all the time. I love my little toddler so much!!!

That's Mommy to You...

My daughter has started something new, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. At first, I thought, "Awww, that's so cute", but it's gotten a little out of hand.

Presley now calls me "Ashlie" or more specifically, "Ahhh-yeee". All day long she walks around yelling it when she wants me. Ummmm, so not okay. I'll take Mother, Momma, Mommy even Mum, but seriously girlfriend, that's not gonna fly around here much longer. The sad part is I involuntarily respond almost every time. Oh my! I wonder what this chickie has in store for me next...

Wordless Wednesday: My First Pigtails!

Party Time!

What a party!!! Presley is truly blessed to say the least. Family and friends from all over came to celebrate year one. We have enough toys to open a toy store and enough left over cake to open a bakery. It was a success, if I do say so myself.

Welcome to Presley's Winter ONE-derland!

The decor:

The Food :

(well what I remembered to take pictures of)

Hot chocolate bar (complete with some adult fixins')

 Snowballs and snowman cookies (made from nutter butters)

 frozen lemonade

 The cake

(We also served chicken noodle soup and queso)

The Party:

What a ONE-derful day! I still can't believe my baby's one...

Wordless Wednesday: Birthday Princess

Happy 1st Birthday!

Presley had quite the 1st birthday starting the minute she woke up. Let's rewind to the night before...

We put Presley to bed, kissed her goodnight and reminded her that when she woke up she would be a BIG one year old. At about midnight, she started crying. I assumed she must have known it was her birthday day and was ready to party. You can't blame a girl for that. Well, she kept on and got more and more hysterical. I decided to go get her out of bed. When I picked her up, I could tell her little tummy was bothering her. I put her in the bath to try and ease what I thought was gas. After a little while, she seemed to be feeling a bit better. I rocked her back to sleep and laid her down.

In the mean time, Brandon was down stairs putting a kitchen together for P. I left the monitor with him since he was still up, and went to bed. A few minutes later Presley starting crying again, so Brandon headed up stairs. By the time he got to the door, she had stopped.

Fast forward to 8:30am...

Presley woke us up with her normal chattering, and I ran downstairs to get her bottle made. I wanted her to have a full belly, and clean diaper when we brought her down to see everyone on her birthday (we were at my parents in Houston). I ran back up the stairs and noticed Brandon had gotten Presley out of bed and had a very strange look on his face. Here is the conversation that followed:

Me: "whats the matter"?
Brandon: "I think she threw up".
Me: "What makes you think that"?
Brandon: "Well, I checked her diaper and there isn't anything coming out of it".
Me: (I grab Presley and realize she is covered in dried throw up. Then immediately run to her crib for further confirmation. Yep. confirmed). " Oh my gosh Brandon, I feel terrible. She slept all night long in her throw up...on her birthday.."
Brandon: (turns to Presley) " It's okay P. I've woken up in my own vomit on a few of my birthday's too".

Seriously, though, I felt like such a horrible mother. My poor baby. I guess she threw up, felt better, and went right to sleep.

We got off to a bit of a rough start, but Presley was in the best mood (I think she just got sick from all the food she'd been consuming). She saw her kitchen (which technically stays at my parents house) and played with it all morning. After her nap, we loaded up the family and took Presley to a play place by my parent's house (forgot the name). It is pretty much a large open space with all kinds of kid friendly things to play with. Presley spent most of the time just running around and then going up and down the stairs.

The kiddos were exhausted after all that running around, so back down for naps they went. Then it was time for cake. We decided it would be best to get my nephew Jackson his own cake and balloons, as well. We sang happy birthday to him, and then to Presley.

She thouroughly enjoyed her cake. You can find the cake pics here if you missed my post. We ended her birthday by treating her to Lupe Tortillas. This is our favorite place to eat, and a birthday tradition (the first time I brought Brandon home to meet my parents, we took him there. My dad thought it would be funny to have them sing "happy birthday" to Brandon even though it wasn't his birthday. They bring out a big hat and it's pretty embarrasing. Just one of the many initiations he had to go through while joining our family).

I really wanted a picture of her in front of the Lupe's sign, but she was pretty much done for the night. We got home and opened up a couple more presents then put our toddler baby to bed.

So far the big "ONE" has been so much fun!

(Sorry for all the posts recently. We were out of town for a week and a half and have a ton to get caught up on. P's big birthday party is this Saturday, so I'll be super busy later this week).