Little Gym.

For now the only classes/activities I had enrolled Presley in were the Music Together classes (which we both LOVE) but a friend of mine asked us to come to a Little Gym class and Presley fell in love with it! We will do music classes again in the fall, with the new baby, but for now we will try a little active play.

Basically the classes consist of a bit of singing, group activities like the parachute (you remember playing with those in elementary school, right?), ball time, bubbles, and free time to explore all the different "gym" things set up around the room. Presley's absolute favorites are the balance beam (no pictures because she needs both of mom's hands to walk across it) and an octagonal block that has a hole in the middle (she calls it a "tent").

Presley is learning to do a somersault--for now she gets in position and then falls to the side and rolls over (like a dog). We are still working on hanging on the bars but this skill will happen soon enough--today while I was cooking I saw her hanging on the oven handle. We look forward to starting classes on Fridays in the new year!

Diva.

Presley is a little diva. She will pose for the camera, dance, and try anything on (glasses, purses, bras, mom's shoes, etc.). Here we have a few examples of Presley practicing for her future rock star days with the Rock Band set up. With Krista and Matt already in North Carolina we will miss all the Guitar Hero and Rock Band practices!

She actually likes to hit the drums with the drum sticks and she does it to the music (at least she is trying). What's more rock star than big sunglasses???

See you soon Krista--we miss you already!

Update.

FYI, my mom likes to know this kind of stuff so here it is. I felt the baby move about one and a half weeks ago. I don't feel it all the time yet just every once and a while (like after I get up to pee in the middle of the night and the baby is happy to have a bit more room again).

We go in on Thursday for another appointment (18 weeks along). I am sure Presley will enjoy hearing the baby's heartbeat. I am happy to be almost half way there--but I know the next half will start to get uncomfortable.

Big girl.

Presley just looks soooooo big to me lately. She is a parrot and will repeat anything she hear--strangers, the TV, voices that come on over the loud speaker at the grocery store. She loves to be outside in the snow. And she just never stops exploring.

Presley decided that it would be fun to wear mom's gloves inside even though they are way too big. She of course had fun posing for the camera.

Christmas decorations.

Everyone is in the mood and I have finally started working on purchasing the gifts on my Christmas lists. The other day we put up the few holiday decorations we will have this year (unfortunately no tree--it is just too messy/dangerous and with Chris gone so much this month there has been no time to even think about getting one).

I finally found stockings I like and with our first ever mantle I hung them up with lights and garland. The table is set and really that is just about it. I still need to find a way to do lights on my house--I really miss doing that. Merry Christmas!

(PS-I am trying bigger pictures because I am not too happy about the new way that Blogger has you download the image to view it larger. We will see how this goes.)

Found.

Well, I thought I had lost my camera but luckily after searching (and cleaning) the entire house, calling the restaurant I thought I last had taken pictures at, and searching the car I finally found it! It was buried in the glove box (which was the LAST place I looked).

Too bad I missed taking pictures of Presley's first sled ride. We spent all Sunday morning sledding down the hill outside our house. When it was finally time to go to church Presley was so upset that we weren't sledding to church that the screamed the whole way there. She was read faced and tear stained the whole meeting. Luckily the polka dots on my sister's outfit kept her occupied (and the whole congregation knows she can say "polka dots").

Up to date.

Finally, I am "up to date" with the things that have been going on in our lives. Thankfully I am no longer sick (that ended about the time I turned 31, end of October) but I have picked up the second illness of pregnancy--constant tiredness! Any spare minute I have I am taking a nap or (this is embarrassing) going to bed not long after Presley is put to sleep for the night. I remember this feeling from last time . . . it will last for a while longer.

I almost to the half way point of this pregnancy and we will find out if it is a girl or a boy on the 3rd of January--more than a week later than normal because the original appointment was scheduled for the day of my youngest brother's wedding and had to be changed. Presley came to my last appointment and sat on my lap as the doctor listened to the baby's heart beat. If you ask her what the baby's heart beat says she will tell you! Wshwsh, wshwsh, wshwsh.

For Daddy.

Presley's daddy loves the snow. So it seems a bit sad that on the weekend of the first big snow storm he is in sunny Florida enjoying 80 degree weather. It snowed well over a foot just yesterday and with the sun out today we had to enjoy some time in the snow.

We went to Matt and Krista's to see how it was going with the shoveling at my parent's house (I am so thankful we have someone to come plow through the snow at our house). Matt got the job done with the snow blower but he did mention how thankful he was that soon he would be moving to a snow-free state (North Carolina).

After that we spent some time at home out in the snow with Roxy. Though the snow covered most of her Roxy enjoyed being outside in the sun and snow. She ran up and down our street stopping at every house to smell the snow and run around. Roxy was so fast we couldn't get any good pictures of her!

Presley was very toasty and warm in her snow suit from last year. We need to find some better mittens (purple ones to match her new coat, snow pants, and boots) but for now she was just happy to be outside in he snow! We are excited for daddy to come home and play in the snow with us!

Clothes.

Presley is definitely a girl (as if there were any question). She likes having her toe nails polished--they are purple right now. She won't let me put a coat over her blue and pink striped shirt--she likes it too much. And she now tells me which shoes she wants to wear--they all have different names (pink ones, flower ones, church ones, etc.)

Presley is now into looking at my clothes and wearing them around the house. The latest items have been a pair of her underpants on her head as a hat and one of my bras. She was so proud of herself wearing my bra around the house--I thought it was kind of funny how it looks hanging nearly to her little knees.

Turkey.

Our little family are now considered the black sheep of our larger, extended family. We didn't go the Thanksgiving with the rest of my family. My entire family drove to Idaho to spend the holiday with Becka and Eric and we just couldn't make the trip (Chris has been and continues to travel and we need some time at home). From the photos and the food it seems we missed out--however we had a lovely little dinner and a relaxing, no driving couple of days alone.

I cooked my first turkey which had I not smelled while it was raw I could have eaten--from all reports (Chris, Presley, Paul, Ali, and Roxy) it was moist and delicious. Everything else was easy and besides Ali's sweet potatoes Chris probably liked the last minute cranberry sauce I cooked up.